This invention relates to a collapsible vehicle of the kind used by persons who need support while walking or re-learning walking, whether by reason of disease, infirmity of advanced years, or other causes.
There has always been a need for mechanical assistance for persons suffering with the afflictions described which has been met in various ways. One of the responses presenting a similar device offered to meet the problem is the three-wheeled vehicle such as shown in the patent to Schladebach, U.S. Pat. No. 2,774,605. The Schladebach device provides for the seating of the patient and the propelling of the vehicle by hand manipulation of two front wheels.
The Schladebach device can be collapsed upon itself, but the vehicle must be partially taken apart with tools in order to do so. It also involves the storage of the part that is detached from the main part of the vehicle together with associated nuts and bolts while the vehicle is being transported.
Moreover, the wheels must swing around a pivot point and fold up against the front wheel to achieve any degree of compactness. The operation requires a large area in which the wheel member can be pivoted and necessitates the lifting of the wheel in order to permit it to pivot.
There has existed a need for a vehicle which can be folded upon itself in a relatively narrow space without the necessity of lifting any part of the vehicle; which will provide the patient with support while walking and means for resting from time to time when walking becomes tiring; which is easy to gain access to, adjustable as to height, stores compactly and is adjustable to varying angles to accommodate the problems presented by some narrower than ordinary doors encountered in a good many homes and other places.